


Be With Me Today, It'll Be Alright

by gooseygoose



Series: when you smile at me softly [2]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, First Dates, Fluff, M/M, renjun steals the check from right under jaemin's nose
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-18
Updated: 2020-01-18
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:33:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,591
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22304992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gooseygoose/pseuds/gooseygoose
Summary: "You just wanna die, don't you.""That just means I'll get to die drunk. What greater honor is there?" He poured a shot for Renjun, and one for him, before wiggling his eyebrows at him. "Drunk, and with my angel by my side. I'll die a happy man."(renjun and jaemin go on their first date together)
Relationships: Huang Ren Jun/Na Jaemin
Series: when you smile at me softly [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1605496
Comments: 2
Kudos: 61





	Be With Me Today, It'll Be Alright

**Author's Note:**

> This is a continuation of my other fic! They're classmates in a Korea Mythology Literature course, and it's the end of the semester, and they're finally going out.

It's 5:45pm when Renjun makes it to the student center.

He feels refreshed. A 30-minute nap and a shower after his last class, plus some clean clothes does wonders. Maybe he tried matching his outfit too, but then again, maybe he gave up because his sleep deprived brain can't think such complex thoughts. And by then, he had to hustle if he wanted to be early to his meet up spot, and he's always early if he could help it. He pulls on his puffy coat and forgoes the hat.

Jaemin wasn't there when he made it, which was fine. He sat down on the steps and fiddled with his phone. He never posted on his Weibo, but he liked to see what his old friends were up to - they had scattered so widely after graduating, and it was interesting to see how different the weather was in Guangdong vs Seoul, or in Atlanta in the USA. Or that one kid who went to Australia and was enjoying the summer sun.

"Hey!"

Someone called out across the square – Renjun looked up to see Jaemin power walking towards him. It didn't take long for him to reach the student union, long legs and all.

"Damnit Injun, I was supposed to be early, and waiting for you."

"I'm always early, Jaemin. And you're 10 minutes early yourself. Don't feel bad."

Jaemin made an exaggerated pout at him, but his eyes were curved upwards. He looked good too – his finance-bro outfit of a peacoat and loafers made him look thoroughly put together. Renjun always felt underdressed around him and doesn't understand how a college kid could pull off wearing loafers every day. 

"Where are we going?"

"To food!" Jaemin bounced on his heels. "It's— this way. We should hurry, it gets crowded on Fridays."

He aggressively linked their arms together and started dragging him towards the main street. Renjun hoped that he doesn't expect him to keep up with this walking pace. He's only a little (only a little bit!) shorter than Jaemin, but that made a huge difference in their walking speeds.

As he had said, the main streets were pretty crowded. College kids from his school, young adults, and others were all out and enjoying their Friday night despite the cold. Street vendors were on fire - dishing out snacks and meals and hollering prices. It seemed warmer with all the people out, even though the evening hour definitely meant it got colder.

Jaemin seemed to have a very clear idea of where he was going and weaved them through the crowded streets, not stopping for anything. Renjun would have lost him if it weren't for the linked arms. Then, he sharply turned into a side street. The large storefronts became smaller cafes and restaurants, some already closed. Renjun looked around curiously - he had never been down this street before. It was quiet for somewhere so close to a main avenue.

"Ta-da! The best kept secret in Seoul."

Jaemin gestured to a Korean barbeque restaurant; small but already bustling with people. The specials for each day was written out on a chalkboard in front, and the 5-for-4 soju deal was clearly spelled out under Friday. Jaemin walked right up to the door, and held it open for Renjun.

"I gotta thank one of my club advisors for the tip on this place. The prices are good, the food is good, and the alcohol is cheap. It's perfect."

"The three most crucial marks for a barbeque place."

"Exactly."

As soon as the waiter fetched them and their butts touched the stools, Jaemin rattled off an order for the pork belly set for the two of them and their first bottles of Soju for the night.

"A little eager?"

"I'm hungry! Plus, they might run out of banchan." Jaemin whined as he helped Renjun out his giant jacket first, before shimmying out of his own coat. They both wore nice sweaters, Renjun noted, a far cry from the sweats they had on earlier today. Maybe even the business student tried dressing up.

Renjun gave him a look as soon as they had settled, while the other was nibbling on a piece of radish. 

"Ahem. I believe you have something of mine."

Jaemin looked confused for a second, before his face lit up and he laughed. 

"So dramatic, Injunnie." He reached into the pocket of his coat and pulled out a gray knit hat with a lime green pom-pom. It looked cleaner than before.

"I was thinking about washing it before handing it back, but I wasn't sure how strong this hat was or whether it could go through a washing machine. Also, it wouldn't dry in time. So, I just lint-rolled it a bit."

Jaemin looked nervous, like he was confessing to a white lie, or caught stealing extra sugar packets from Starbucks. Staring at him with wide eyes, waiting for a reaction. It was endearing. How could Renjun possibly be mad at him for treating his sentimental items well? His heart had fluttered, and he had been flooded with warmth. He didn't say anything about the hat being especially important to him, but Jaemin understood it without words; he had been listening the entire time. 

"Thank you. This means a lot to me." Renjun beamed at him, shy and happy. He gently folded his newly cleaned hat and tucked it away in his coat pocket. 

"Don't get all sappy on me now, Injunnie. If you're already like this when we haven't even touched our soju, I don't know how I'm gonna deal with you drunk."

"Shut up!" He playfully smacked the table. He won't admit it, but he's a crying drunk. At least he's a happy-crying drunk. "I have a high tolerance!"

Something evil, or as close to evil as Jaemin got, flashed in his eyes. He grabbed the soju bottle and the two shot glasses and sent him a shit-eating smirk. "Wanna bet on it?"

"You just wanna die, don't you."

"That just means I'll get to die drunk. What greater honor is there?" He poured a shot for Renjun, and one for him, before wiggling his eyebrows at him. "Drunk, and with my angel by my side. I'll die a happy man."

Renjun still blushed at being called an angel, because blushing was a natural reaction to being near Na Jaemin. But he shot back, "I wouldn't mind taking you to heaven. And I'll take on your stupid bet. Just watch me win."

"That's the spirit Injunnie!"

Jaemin lifted his shot. "A toast?"

"Um. To Korean Mythology!"

"You mean fuck Korean Mythology!"

"To- hats?"

"To hats! To Fridays! To sophomore year, thank god it's halfway over." And with that, Jaemin threw back his shot. Renjun, who never backed down from a dare as obvious as this, followed suit. It burned his throat and tasted like satisfaction. A weekend treat after a long week. Renjun internally decided that he should go out more often, because this feeling was worth the extra money.

The meat came quickly after the toasts, and Jaemin stole the tongs before Renjun could even move. He does the obligatory back and forth ('we're the same age Jaemin, I can cook' 'you're older, and I'm great with pork belly') and he half-heartedly lost. The younger claimed all responsibility on the grill, and Renjun just sat back and let him. He actually felt the effects of that one shot of soju faster than usual, and then belatedly remembered that he never ate lunch. Oops. He might lose this drinking bet.

They talked while waiting for their meat to cook, trading random stories about their classes and their lives. Jaemin talked about how there was this one kid on his debate team that laughed like a dolphin whenever anything remotely interesting happened. It sounds like he’s being an ass and riling the other side up, but no, this kid always sounded like that. He swore the debate team wasn’t that loud all the time, but this one person laughed once, and now they have this whole reputation.

Renjun talked about his freshmen year roommate, who was from Hong Kong and was massive. Easily taller than Jaemin, and really buff too. How he bought a pet fish to talk to and practice his Korean with and got very attached to ‘Tteok’ (“He name his fish ricecake?’” “Tteokbokki was one of the first words he learned, and this was his first pet? That was his logic?”) before it jumped into the toilet during a water change and left him for good. Xuxi cried for an hour and they had to watch ‘Finding Nemo’ in Tteok’s honor. He has a bamboo now.

“How did you not laugh in his face?” Jaemin snickered, as he sipped on more soju. “Your self-control is impressive.”

“Listen, Xuxi could’ve crush me with his little finger. He would never, but it was self-preservation.” Renjun had totally laughed at him behind his back.

This led to a conversation about their friends that they haven’t seen in a long time, which led to them talking about their homes. Renjun talkled about dealing with homesickness – videochatting with his family just wasn’t the same. He missed his grandma’s dumplings and his cousins tormenting him and play fighting. Even babysitting – but only a little.

Jaemin was from Seoul, born and raised, and talked about how much things have changed since he was a kid. Bigger buildings, nicer cars, more and more people on the streets every day. But the speed at which life in the city moved remained lightning fast.

“I don't use car services actually.”

“Really?” Renjun has shamefully ordered a taxi when he couldn’t be bothered to walk the 15 minutes from his flat to campus before.

“Nope. Latchkey kid. I learned the subways and bus routes, like people should.” Jaemin sent him a look, which Renjun pretended to not see. In his defense, he did live 15 minutes away, and never really went outside of the general vicinity of his campus.

“Hey, it’s hard enough navigating the sidewalks, let alone the subways. God, when me and the other Chinese kids used to go explore, we would get so lost. I always got stuck with asking for directions.” Renjun grinned at the memory. Maybe a city like Seoul wasn’t as big for someone like Xuxi, but it was huge compared to his hometown. Even if he didn't go anywhere these days, those trips during freshmen year were some of his favorite memories. “I think we went to Lotte World five, six times? We got lost on our way there and back every time.”

Jaemin laughed. “That’s a stop on the subway!”

“There were two transfers! Two! We always took one of them in the wrong direction.” They both ended up laughing at that.

Renjun thought that it was easy to talk to Jaemin like this, to laugh with him. The other always put all his attention into listening, into looking into his eyes and little head nods. It was a shame most of their time spent together this past semester was slaving over textbooks and chugging black coffee. They could've been doing this so much earlier, but now was as good of a time as any.

They had only finished one bottle of soju, but he felt warm and fuzzy already. The pork belly was grilled crisp and juicy, and gosh, he finally realized just how hungry he was. Jaemin made a loud and fake moaning noise when he took his first bite, and Renjun almost choked with how hard he laughed. And then again, when he made to shove a huge lettuce wrap in his mouth and couldn’t quite do it. Everything Jaemin did was funny at this point.

Unfortunately for him, halfway through the second bottle, during one of Jaemin’s random antics with the bottle and the metal cap, tears started to escape Renjun’s eyes. He was sobbing, but it was fine! 

“Then you twist— Whoa, Injunnie! Are you okay?”

Renjun half giggled, half sobbed at Jaemin’s worried face looking all hazy and swirly. He was beaming even though big, fat tears were running down his cheeks.

“Ah – no! Keep doing what you’re doing, it’s funny! I’m having fun!” Renjun reached to feel his under eyes, but accidentally poked his eyelid, and thought that it was such a funny feeling. He must’ve said that out loud, because Jaemin was looking at him with such disbelief, and he just burst into more laughter, and sobs.

“Oh Jaemin-ahh! I forgot to tell you… I cry when I drink! But! It’s okay, because I’m really happy. I’m really happy! I’m really happy you’re here! Really really happy.”

He set his chin on the crook of his elbow on the table, trying to gain some stability in his vision. But then he remembered that he was crying, and tried to wipe his face with his sleeves, only to smack his nose. And then he laughed again, finding everything hilarious. Jaemin watched all of this with a small smile.

“You’re really too cute, Injunnie.”

“Whaa?”

“I said I’m cutting you off.”

“Noooo,” He wailed. “That’s only number 2! How-how do we do 5 for 4?”

“Next time, maybe. High tolerance, my ass.”

“You big meanie! It's because I forgot to eat lunch… but I can do it!”

He reached for the bottle, only for it to be snatched up with Jaemin's superior, not as drunk reflexes.

"No more!"

"But we have so much leftover! I wanna help!"

Jaemin pursed his lips and shook his head. "You've had too much. Here – let me." And he flicked the cap off the bottle and threw it back. Renjun could only gape at the other man, Adam’s apple bobbing as he chugged remainder of the soju down at once. He grimaced when the bottle finally emptied, and wiped the excess running down his chin with a napkin.

"Jaemin-ah... You're so stupid." Renjun was still ogling him, who looked so dumb and smug that he guzzled all their alcohol down. He blew a kiss in his direction, and Renjun's face burst into another gleeful grin, as he wiped his face with his sleeves again. “So stupid.”

"The things I do for you, Injunnie."

Renjun giggled a little more. Jaemin was so nice to him, he really liked it. He should be nice to Jaemin too. This reminded him suddenly. "I have to go to the bathroom!"

"Do you need help?" Jaemin look at him, all worried. Renjun just stuck his tongue out. He wasn't _that_ drunk.

"No, that's embarrassing!"

But still, Jaemin had to steady him after he tripped on his seat trying to get up. The restaurant being small and crowded wasn't helpful in his attempts at walking a straight line, nor did the noise from all the other drunk people. But after turning a corner and peering to make sure that Jaemin stopped looking after him in favor of his phone, he went up to the counter.

"Hi," He tried to look serious. "I can't let my dongsaeng pay. Can I pay for everything at that back table?" He mumbled and pointed over. The hostess looked at him, with big tear tracks down his cheeks and little sniffles, and back at Jaemin, and back again.

"... Okay?" She tallied up their total, and he knew he would wince the next day. But for now, tapping his card was so easy, and he took the receipt and placed it in his chest pocket, because sober him liked to organize his receipts.

Renjun successfully made it back to his seat and smiled brightly.

"That was quick. I expected you to fall into the toilet." Jaemin snickered, and he basically has to reach over and flick his forehead. So he does and giggled at the exaggerated yelp and pout he got in return. They take a breather to drink some water, and to finish up their meal – Renjun starting to sober up and Jaemin starting to sway.

"I think the alcohol is hitting you. We should leave soon."

Jaemin straightened his back, making sure his chest is a little puffed out and shoulders broad. "Injun, I invited you out, I'll pay."

Renjun might be drunk, but Na Jaemin was so predictable. And he let the younger trip over his stool, and walk crookedly to the counter, all the while smiling to himself. He watched as he got out his wallet, and then the hostess stopping him and pointing back at his table and saying something. The look of betrayal on his face was priceless and absolutely worth every penny spent that night. Renjun shot finger hearts as Jaemin stalked back.

"You sneak!"

"Fighting over the bill is in my blood Jaemin. You never stood a chance.” 

“That’s playing dirty.”

Renjun laughed some more. “I paid! Be gracious to your hyung.”

“Next time, Huang Injun, the bill is mine.” Somehow the promise of another one of these adventures with Jaemin made his heart somersault, just a little.

"I'll hold you to it."

They stumble out of the restaurant together with their stomachs full, and academic struggles forgotten. The weather turned cold and started to snow coating the streets in a thin layer of white. The streetlights cast everything in a hazy yellow, that made the world look softer. The loud sounds of the restaurant were right behind them, feeling like a world away. Renjun took out his little hat that started all of this and yanked it back on. Jaemin’s eyes danced with mirth, and he reached out to play with the little pom-pom on the top.

Maybe it's the boisterous noises of the restaurant, or the bravado from the soju, or more than likely the boy with the soft eyes in front of him but something made him feel brave.

"Injunnie... You're really pretty." Renjun flushed, and Jaemin can’t help how his heart skipped. He was prettiest like this, tear-soaked eyelashes sparkling in the streetlights with a happy smile that made him feel fuzzier than any amount of soju he drank. Blushing because of his compliments, with the cutest hat on his head. He can’t quite look away and wasn’t sure if he wanted to.

“… You’re really pretty too.” Jaemin's eyelashes had caught a few snowflakes, and they were so long and fanned across his cheeks. He was just so stunning. But unlike him, Renjun can’t even face the other, hiding his face behind his hand. Instead, he grabbed the hand playing with the pom-pom and threaded their fingers together. His face felt very hot, and it was very much Jaemin’s fault again.

“I guess neither of us died tonight.”

“Really? And here, I thought I made it to heaven.” Renjun wanted to smack him, but his hand was so warm and nice, and he doesn’t want to let go. He just looked down at his feet, at Jaemin’s loafers and smiled instead.

“Let me walk you back. The least I can do, since I didn’t pay.”

The walk back was quiet, nothing but the distant sounds of a few restaurants, and cars horns in traffic. Jaemin stopped them for one particularly memorable moment to draw a crude snowflake on someone's windshield in the snow. Renjun decided to _show_ his opinion and drew a poop emoji right next to it. They had to stop for 10 minutes afterwards, until Jaemin could stop howling with laughter, and Renjun no longer had to help him stand upright. When they emerged from their side street, the main avenue was only slightly quieter; the night was young, and a little snow never stopped anyone in this city.

Jaemin courteously walked Renjun back to his little flat, even though the turn to his street came up earlier. Maybe he enjoyed holding the other's hands and decided to brave the cold just to do It for a little longer. It was definitely worth it.

Standing outside the entrance to his building, in the cold, was kind of weird. Renjun doesn't know whether it made sense to invite him in, or if it was time for them to part, or if there were more than these two options. They were still holding hands. Jaemin looked ethereal, with the snowflakes in his hair, but instead he nervously looked at nervously at his shoes and bit his lip.

"Hey, I had a good time." He started out nervously, eyes darting in every direction before settling somewhere below his eyes. “Would you like to do this again? Some other time?”

“Are you asking me on a second date?”

“A little eager, mister. But yes, I am. And you do owe me a full bill. So maybe Lotte World next time? I think I’ve been once.”

Renjun gasped. “Once?! You’re from here!”

Jaemin just smiled, fond and sweet. “Yup. Elementary school field trip. But since you’ve gone, what, 6 times? You’re the expert now.”

“That’s so long ago – you don’t know any of the cool rides!” He gasped again. “There’s a new Frozen one opening next year. We should go!”

“I thought I was asking you?”

“Oh – yeah. I’d like that. A second date at Lotte World,” Renjun laughed, all bright and happy, and squeezed his hand. “That’s so cliché.”

“You can show me everything. And I’ll pay.” Jaemin was certain the smile on his face looked dorky, and the squeeze on his hand mimicked the tightness in his chest but he really can’t help himself around Huang Renjun.

“You’re never gonna let that go, are you. Of course, I’d really like that.”

**Author's Note:**

> i did the thing they did with the drawing on the windshield in the snow except i was that kid, i drew dicks all over the car. i had to lay down on the sidewalk in the snow after just to stop laughing. 
> 
> don't be me. drink responsibly.


End file.
